All Talk, Little Action
AUGWAK LIFTED UP the edge of the rush mats making up the wall of the medicine lodge and peeked outside. He caught sight of the mainlander girl and her friend, the halfling, stepping into one of the smaller wigwams; and though he did make eye contact with her, she turned her head, and continued into the building without a word. He started steaming and let the mat fall back into place with a scowl.
"Some gratitude!" he hissed to himself. "I tell her everything I know and all she can do is IGNORE me! I helped! Truly I did! And I still get stuck in this place--?" He smelled the fire burning outside and grimaced; the drummers weren't present at the moment, though the fire was bad enough. "What are they even burning out there?! The smell! It's so HOT in here!" He moaned and fell over. "I haven't eaten in AGES...!"
The doorflap started to nudge up. Augwak's head popped up and he stared at it with wide eyes; as soon as he saw a little face peek in his scowl returned and he dropped his head back to the cedar boughs on the floor. Winter Born crept across the room to look down into his face, but he kept his eyes shut tight.
"Are you awake...?" she asked in a small voice.
Augwak's nose wrinkled. She smelled funny for a fleshling. "Go away," he grumbled, and she jumped, but immediately resumed staring at him again. His nose wrinkled even more.
"Are you really a GeeBee...?" she asked.
Augwak opened his eyes at last and glared at her. "What do you THINK I am, stupid?" he snapped, and she blinked. "Of course I'm a GeeBee! The OGIMAH of the GeeBees!"
Winter Born's brow furrowed. "You don't act like a GeeBee..."
He snarled. "I don't, do I? I'll have you know that I EAT people like you for BREAKFAST! How is that for acting like a GeeBee--?"
Her mouth twitched. She looked unconvinced. "You're not eating me."
He bared his teeth at her. "Because you SMELL bad!" He made a face. "And you're FILTHY! Excuse me but I prefer my food CLEAN!"
Winter Born's lip stuck out. "Mother told me about GeeBees! She said they fly around and laugh and eat people! How come you aren't doing that--?"
Augwak's head popped up again and he dug his claws into the furs. "BECAUSE I'M ALL BEATEN UP, STUPID CHILD!! Don't your parents teach you anything USEFUL--?!"
The girl just sat back and crossed her arms. "I don't think you're a GeeBee at all," she said matter-of-factly, and that made Augwak's jaw drop, his voice dying in his throat. She gave him a challenging look, and he had never wished more for that mainlander's smart mouth to shut somebody up.
With a frustrated growling noise he dropped his head and put a bough over his face, wishing that he had let himself get eaten after all.
It was warm out, and still early in the day, so the central fire wasn't lit. The only light available streamed down through the smokehole above, as Charmian and Thomas were seated near where the fire would have been otherwise, the old woman resuming her sewing in the corner. The old man sat before them now, staring at them critically, and Charmian wished that she could melt into the floor. For some reason she never felt comfortable here.
She rubbed at her neck. "Um...I was told to talk to you. Again," she said.
Laughing Lynx gave her the same disapproving look that he always seemed to wear. "By Stick-In-The-Dirt, I assume...?" When she nodded his frown seemed to grow a little. "There is a reason why he sent you to me?"
She nodded. "There was a story I wanted him to tell me but he said you might know it better."
"A story?" When she nodded a third time he looked ready to scowl. "We do not usually tell stories in the summer. Stick-In-The-Dirt knows this, so why he sent you here..."
"It's important." Charmian pulled out her pouch and looked it over, then handed it toward him. He looked at it. "This was all I could get. They...um...really, really frown on people my age having tobacco, where I come from." She gave him her most pleading look. "Please can you tell us the story?"
Laughing Lynx stared at the pouch, then frowned. "What is this story you wish to hear...?"
"It's about a snake with horns," Charmian said, and the medicine man's frown grew even more than she'd seen it before, and she blinked when he nudged the pouch back toward her.
"Perhaps you'd best save that," he said, and she furrowed her brow, but obediently tucked it back in her pocket. "Tell me why you wish to hear about this snake with horns," he said, and she shrank in on herself a bit.
"Just because," she said meekly.
There was a very long silence this time, and she could practically feel his eyes drilling holes through her. "You have obviously heard of it already, to be asking about it," he said. "Tell me how you heard of it."
Charmian fiddled with the edge of her vest. "I...saw a painting of it in a book," she murmured. "Back home. I just wanted to know what it was." An idea striking her, she leaned forward and pushed the edge of a mat aside, and started drawing in the soil; Thomas and Laughing Lynx leaned forward to look. "It had a long body," she said, drawing its humps and coils, "and a long tail...and spines...and horns...like that." She pulled her hand back and they perused the drawing. "I heard that your people knew about it. I thought maybe you could fill me in. Just out of curiosity."
His eyes flicked up to fix on hers and she nearly wilted. "'Just out of curiosity,'" he echoed.
She nodded, swallowing hard. "That's all."
The medicine man stared at her skeptically for a moment or two, then leaned back. He used his foot to obliterate the drawing she'd made and then drew it back under him. "There are old stories about such a creature," he said. "Yet the people here do not tell them anymore. They say that this creature existed back where our people first came from, long ago."
"First came from...?" Charmian repeated.
He nodded. "Before we came to the Island." He folded his hands. "According to the tales, such a creature lived in Gitchi-Gami. A great beast with the body of a serpent and the face of a lynx. Its horns were made of pure copper such as that found upon the lakeshore."
Charmian blinked, then glanced at Thomas. His brow was furrowed in disbelief; she hadn't mentioned the horns looking like copper just yet. She turned back to Laughing Lynx.
"There really was such a creature--?" When he nodded her own brow furrowed. "What did they say about it?"
"Merely that it was a very angry-spirited beast and would often cause the waters of the lake to pitch and roil, and sink canoes. Our people would toss tobacco upon the water to still it and keep the creature peaceful. Yet it was very fickle, and could not be trusted. For this reason many simply avoided traveling on this lake, and many other lakes of strange nature."
"What is this thing called?" Charmian asked.
"Our name for it is Mishupishu," Laughing Lynx replied. "It is the Great Horned Lynx, although it more resembles a serpent; some call it simply the Underwater Lynx. It lives in tunnels and caves beneath the lake."
This made Charmian stiffen, sitting at attention; the others all looked at her. "Tunnels under the lake--?" she blurted out, and Laughing Lynx frowned but nodded.
"Much like the lake and caves here," he said. "There are supposedly tunnels beneath Gitchi-Gami, and the other lakes, and Mishupishu travels through these unseen by others."
Charmian felt the blood begin to drain from her face; Thomas reached out and surreptitiously squeezed her hand. "So...even though it's in Lake Super--um--Gitchi-Gami...it can travel into the other lakes?" she asked.
He nodded. "This is how the stories go."
Charmian let out a breath and forced herself to try to relax. "Why is it that nobody tells the stories of this thing anymore?" she asked, perplexed. "I mean--it sounds like something that would be right at home in a place like this..."
Laughing Lynx shook his head. "Mishupishu is very large in size, and the Island would not accommodate it very well. Besides..." and here he again scuffed at the drawing which had been on the ground "...there has always been a great silence in speaking of this creature here. No one wishes to speak of it. To talk of it is to invite bad luck, especially in this place."
Charmian frowned in puzzlement. "Why here...?"
He lifted a shoulder. "This part of the story I do not know. It was long before even my time." He folded his arms. "There was anything else you wished to know?"
Charmian chewed on her lip a little, then shook her head. "No...I think that's about it for now. Thank you...um...megwetch." She bobbed her head as if he were Japanese, and got to her feet, Thomas following suit. The medicine man watched them go as they stepped outside into the sunlight and shielded their eyes, looking around the camp while the cicadas buzzed overhead.
"Well," Thomas said after a moment, "it looks like you and Pakwa aren't so batty after all."
"Thanks," Charmian said absently, and peered toward the East Bluff. "I wonder if there's anywhere else to get information...too bad they don't have a 411 number."
Thomas frowned a little as if puzzled, then brushed it off. "What sort of information? Wasn't this helpful enough...?"
"I rather get the feeling that there's something more to this story that's of real importance." She turned to look at him. "I really saw that thing right before I came. It came with the thunderstorm--or right before it--I think. And you know, it was because of the thunderstorm that I was able to get here this time. There was no moonlight, so I used lightning to make the dreamcatcher work. It brought me out under Croghan Water, and Chakenapok was hanging out down there."
Thomas's eyes goggled and she flinched, immediately wishing that she hadn't revealed that bit. "CHAKENAPOK?" he yelled, and whirled around to face the trail leading northward. "You mean he's HERE again--?!"
"It's not LIKE that!" Charmian insisted, tugging on his arm to calm him down. "Believe me!" she added when he gave her a foul look. "He's the one who gave me directions up to the surface so I wouldn't DROWN like I nearly did the last time!" She let out a flustered sigh and brushed back her hair. "What I was saying is, that THING looked just like what Pakwa and Laughing Lynx described--this Mishupishu or whatever--and I think it's kind of convenient how nobody tells the stories about it anymore, for whatever reason." She paused. "Almost like they're hiding something."
A tense look came to Thomas's face. "You think the old man is keeping something from you...?"
She shook her head. "No...I really think they don't know. But that's just it. This is a small Island and why would they forget the stories? He said people don't like to talk about that thing, 'especially in this place.' That makes it sound like there's more to this than he can tell me." She rubbed her head. "I just don't know where to ask."
"Perhaps you could try out that Moon Wolf fellow," Thomas suggested.
Charmian frowned thoughtfully. "I'm not sure," she murmured. "He knows a lot, but he's also a lot younger than Laughing Lynx...would he know a story even the elders have forgotten?"
"It can't hurt to ask, can it--?"
A rattling noise caught their attention, and they lifted their heads. The leaves on the trees were fluttering as a gust of cool wind blew through them, and the branches clacked against each other; a few Islanders covered their heads and hurried back toward the other side of the camp. Charmian and Thomas shielded their eyes as the wind swept over them, then something landed on the ground with a thud; Charmian peered out from between her fingers to see Pakwa, crouching before them and panting. She blinked.
"Pakwa--?" she managed to get out.
The GeeBee lifted one bony hand and pointed eastward. "Fleshling--Fairy Arch. Shore. Go to speak."
Charmian's brow furrowed. "Huh--?" For some reason, Pakwa's speech wasn't always the easiest to follow; perhaps it came from living alone for too long.
The GeeBee responded by hopping up and down, still pointing. "Fairy Arch! Go to speak with manitou woman. Important."
"Manitou woman--?" She glanced toward the east. "You mean, Geezhigo-Quae--?" When he nodded her face screwed up. "You've been hanging out with Geezhigo-Quae?"
Thomas took her hand and started walking toward the bluff, Pakwa turning in a circle and hopping after them. "I rather get the feeling he's not in the mood for chatting just now," he said to her in a low voice, glancing back at the GeeBee. "Maybe if we do what he says, he won't start scaring the Islanders."
Charmian looked confused. "I guess." She peered over her shoulder. "Why do we need to talk with Geezhigo-Quae--?"
"Important," Pakwa echoed himself, and as if to prove his point, he leapt ahead of them, bounding off into the woods. Charmian let out a gusty sigh but accordingly picked up her pace, Thomas doing the same.
So much for my nice relaxing stay, she thought gloomily.
They made their way to the East Bluff and began descending carefully, having to grab onto trees and shrubs to keep from falling. Pakwa steered them somewhat south and they reached a large set of flat stone formations which they easily made their way down, jumping from one down to another.
"This must be the Giant's Stairway everybody kept talking about," Charmian panted.
Thomas held his hand out and helped her down one particularly steep step. "I got to look at it after you left--I get the feeling the Island's starting to like me, too!"
Charmian rolled her eyes. "Uh-huh, whatever."
"Well, did you find them so easily, or did I...?"
"Fairy Arch," Charmian said, pointing; they looked down and saw the shrubbery-shrouded top of the formation just below, the waves splashing against the shore. She still wasn't quite used to seeing it like this. On her last trip the Arch had been located further up the bluff, surrounded by trees...until she had been just about ready to leave, when it had mysteriously made its way down to the shore and out into the open. The only explanation that she could think of was that the Island had simply wanted it that way. It sounded pretty strange, but after spending enough time on this particular Island, she wasn't so surprised anymore that it should have an attitude or a sense of humor, no matter how odd.
"So okay, we're here!" she snapped at Pakwa as he floated down to land atop the Arch, the other two of them stumbling out onto the shore road. "Now what? Since it's so important and all."
Pakwa pointed at the hole beneath the Arch. "Through."
Charmian rolled her eyes. "Would you mind at least telling me what this is about, first? Remember Geezhigo-Quae doesn't really like being bothered for trivial reasons--!"
"Sky Mother ask it," Pakwa said, and that silenced her. He pointed again. "Through."
They stared at him for a moment, then looked up at the rock. "Geezhigo-Quae's the one who asked me to go through...?" Charmian murmured, perplexed; she paused again, then pursed her lips and started climbing up the rock. Thomas and Pakwa stood below, watching her, then the GeeBee floated up and went through. She watched him do so, then glanced down at Thomas.
"Are you coming--?"
He made a sour face. "Do you think she wants me there--?"
Charmian sighed. "Oh, come on! She asked for me, so you can come too! She let Pakwa in, didn't she?"
Thomas opened his mouth, then shut it. "Point taken," he said, and began climbing after her. She waited for him to catch up, then tentatively reached a hand out to hold it through the Arch's opening. Her hand disappeared into thin air and she shivered; Thomas grasped her free hand and she felt a little calmer, though no less unnerved by the strange sight and feeling that settled over her. Taking a breath, she pushed herself forward, Thomas following, and they fell through the hole in the rock and out the other side.
Instead of plummeting down to the shore road...they went tumbling down a grassy knoll, yelping as they rolled and then thudded to a stop at the bottom. Thomas landed on his back, Charmian on top of him; she pushed herself up as he rubbed at his head with a grimace.
"Don't think I'm ever going to get used to that," he grumbled.
"At least it opens up in the same place," Charmian murmured, rubbing her elbow. She managed to get to her feet, seeing Pakwa already ambling through the grass as if he were a strange leggy dog. She sighed to herself and waved at Thomas to follow.
They walked partway across a field of swaying grasses, around an outstretched arm of forest which jutted out ahead of them; as soon as they rounded it, their eyes rose, for what loomed before them was rather difficult to miss.
A gigantic tree stood in the middle of the field, its trunk and branches glittering blue like lapis, its leaves shimmering like opals. As they looked at it the colors shifted, seemingly with the sunlight; when a cloud drifted overhead the trunk went nearly black, and the opal leaves darkened to platinum silver; when the sun peeked out again, the trunk was as blue as the sky was, and the leaves practically dazzled. Charmian felt a twitching in her pocket and reached into it to pull out the little carved pinecone she'd brought along. It hopped and danced in her palm, and she smiled at Thomas.
"Still working," she said, tucking it away again. They followed Pakwa as he ambled toward the Sky Tree, the way deceptively far because of the Tree's immense size. They were silent as they walked, which Charmian rather appreciated; the sound of the wind breezing through the leaves far ahead was peaceful, and she took in a deep breath, letting it out and focusing on the shifting colors.
It seems like I never really get the time to truly enjoy myself here. I hope none of this is too serious...it'd be nice to relax for a change...
They reached the base of the trunk and had to crane their necks just to look up; Charmian had seen redwoods before, and this Tree put them to shame. They halted and frowned a little, pondering how best to ascend; Pakwa solved this problem by hopping up and grasping Charmian by the arms, pulling her up after him. She let out a yelp and could only stare helplessly at Thomas as she ascended; he got an annoyed look, but she didn't have the chance to ask him what the problem might be before they were too high up for her voice to even reach him.
Pakwa deposited her on a wide branch, then disappeared. Charmian milled in a circle, looking at all of the rope bridges and vines and little crystal lights dangling from the branches. The Tree was unusually still today, which puzzled her; every other time that she'd visited, it had been swarming with Michinimakinong, or Turtle Fairies, the residents of this place; they had lived on the Island long ago, before conflict with the humans had driven them into this land. This had been the subject of no small number of disputes between Manabozho and Niskigwun her last time here, and she chewed her lip, hoping that the two of them had overcome their hard feelings. She turned her head as Pakwa returned with Thomas, dumping him unceremoniously and then landing on the branch and waving at them just like before.
"Follow," he said, and trotted toward the trunk.
Charmian glanced at Thomas, who was rubbing his shirt as if he'd been besmirched. He scowled. "I was starting to find him more pleasant company," he muttered, at which Charmian waved just as Pakwa had.
"You can't really blame the guy. It's not like he has any role models!" She started along the branch. "I want to know what it is that Geezhigo-Quae wants. It has to be important, if she asked me to come here."
They made their way to an entry into the Tree, and started walking down one of the numerous hallways within it. Charmian didn't even bother wondering how a tree could live in such a state, since apparently it wasn't a normal tree. They passed the little round doorways which led into various rooms, winding their way closer to the middle, Pakwa trotting ahead of them the entire way. Charmian stared at the walls and shivered a little.
"Kind of quiet in here," she murmured, and almost jumped at how loud her voice sounded.
Thomas's mouth twitched. "Don't tell me you're all scared of a Tree now..."
She opened her mouth to retort when Pakwa hopped almost straight into the air, startling them. One of the doorways in the hall had vanished and someone had hopped out into the path. Charmian and Thomas stared as a little girl turned to look at them, her eyes lighting up and a huge grin crossing her face.
"PAKWA!" she yelled, and bobbled right toward him, throwing her arms around his neck. Charmian saw the GeeBee go as stiff as a board, but the girl let him go almost immediately and he fell over with a thunk. "I knew I'd find you if I kept looking! See? I knew you went through the big Arch but you didn't think I saw you but I did, and I figured why wouldn't he go to the Tree, so I came and looked, and I looked all over, and I looked in every single room, but I couldn't find you, but HERE you are! Right here in the Tree just like I knew you'd be if I just looked long enough!" She spotted Charmian and Thomas now and her eyes lit up even more; she clapped her hands and hopped up and down. "MORE PEOPLE! Are you hiding too?"
They both blinked. "Ah...no...not really," Charmian managed to get out, and expected the girl's smile to fade, but it didn't; she merely started turning in circles and talking so quickly that Charmian's head started to spin.
"I like looking for people! And finding them! And then they hide and I look some more! I look all over! I've been looking for Pakwa forever! He's good at hiding but I always find him! He thinks he knows hiding spots but I know them even better! Uh-huh! I'm the best at finding hiding spots...I find them all the time...I could hide in them, but that wouldn't be fun, because it's more fun to find people! Like in this Tree! I could find people all day! But for some reason there's nobody here today...well almost nobody...and I've been looking forever...I just can't find people...but I know they're somewhere if I just keep looking! Like Pakwa! FOUND YOU!!" She threw her arms around the GeeBee's neck again and his eyes goggled in a panic; he disappeared in a puff of wind, and the girl immediately turned to Charmian and Thomas, waving her arms.
"Are you going to hide now--? I'm REAL good at finding things--!"
"Um...maybe later," Charmian said, feeling a bit nervous. "Right now though we're looking for Geezhigo-Quae...and..."
"GEEZHIGO-QUAE!!" the girl yelled, and they both flinched. "I know where to find HER! She just says I shouldn't bother her, mm-hm, because she has important stuff to do. But I know how to be real good and I don't bother her. I look for OTHER people instead! All over! I look in the halls and the rooms and branches and--"
"Is she in her big middle room?" Charmian interrupted, knowing that they'd never get anywhere this way.
The girl bobbed her head enthusiastically. "Right where she ALWAYS is! Pakwa came by a while ago and went to talk with her but I didn't get to catch him then because he was in a hurry so I stayed here and waited and he finally came back and I DID catch him and--"
"Okay, thank you," Charmian said, and waved at Thomas, mouthing the word C'mon!! at him. They turned and headed for the hallway leading to the big interior room of the Tree, but the girl merely followed them, yammering on and on the entire way.
"She's always busy doing important sky stuff so I can't go in and bother her because I might mess it up but when I keep out of her way she says I behave myself and that's always nice but it can get boring out here so I keep looking for people whenever there's people around to find which isn't always but there's usually people around so I look for them then and..."
"Doesn't she ever shut up...?" Charmian hissed under her breath, peering back at the girl as she prattled obliviously.
Thomas gave her a sympathetic look. "Maybe she's lonely! In any case, at least she doesn't seem to mind being ignored that much, right...?"
"Still," Charmian said, but left it at that. She gestured when she recognized a door set in the wall and picked up her pace. "I think that's it! She said she has to keep away from Geezhigo-Quae--so maybe if we duck in there, she'll leave us alone!"
Thomas rolled his eyes. "You're devious, you know that?"
Charmian paused long enough for him to hear the girl's incessant chattering, and he began to squirm. "Point taken!" he echoed himself, and Charmian reached out to press her hand to the door. It receded into the room, and they both hastily entered. True to Charmian's prediction, the little girl remained out in the hallway, yapping and yapping without cease, and they stood and watched the door reappear, and let out their breath only once it was silent again.
Charmian paused, then made a face and rubbed at her head. "My ears are ringing," she said.
"I take it you've met Turtle," a voice said, and they turned to look into the room.
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